


Regrowth

by ramel



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2139342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramel/pseuds/ramel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Groot grows back slowly. His friends are happy to assist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regrowth

**Author's Note:**

> created for the guardian-kink on livejournal: http://guardian-kink.livejournal.com/1806.html?thread=63502#t63502

It’s been two weeks and Groot is growing faster then any of them could have hoped.

 

Rocket still handles most of the watering, convinced that anyone else who tries in his presence is doing it wrong. But Gamora still slips bits of fertilizer she bought on Thuvria into his pot, and Groot always hums his thanks to her before lifting up some of it to nibble on. Peter sometimes leaves his Walkman on the table, headphones wrapped around Groot’s pot so he can listen to Cherry Bomb on repeat as many times as he likes. Drax sits by him when he has free time, and starts reading up on plant care. One day he tries trimming a sprig off of Groot’s back, and promptly has little balls of dirt thrown at him. He doesn’t forgive Drax for a while, refusing to even move when the man is looking.

 

It’s been one month and Groot’s legs are almost grown back.

 

Gamora bought a new pot, with room for growth, though Rocket insists that Groot will be walking in a week. Groot is more verbal then ever before, though his voice is not as deep as it were before. His squawking declarations are welcomed by the team. They can tell he missed speaking.

  
One day Peter brings Groot up on the flight deck with him for company. He starts to put on his headphones, but Groot growls at him.

  
“What? It’s just my Walkman, I can pilot while listening to it. Don’t worry so much.”

  
“I am Groot!” He protests. Groot extends his arms out a few inches, pawing in the walkmans direction.

  
“Oh, you want-“ Peter frowns. “No can do buddy, only one person can listen at a time.” Groot snorts, trying to reach farther.

  
“Whoa, don’t fall over, Rocket will kill me.” He tries swatting at Groot’s hands, which only makes Groot strain harder. He pauses a moment, looking down at the pot he’s confined to. He bends over, grasping the sides and starts trying to shift the pot closer to Peter.

  
“Geez, you just don’t give up.” Peter eyes the spectacle. Realizing that Groot wasn’t going to let up, he finally gives in. He takes the headphones off and places them around the pot like always, and turns the volume up to max. “There, happy?”

  
“I am Groot.” Comes the content reply.

  
A minute later Groot is bouncing along happily to music that Peter can barely make out. He’d be more upset, but admittedly, he had brought Groot up here for more company, it was only fair to include the guy. A few minutes later, Peter is humming along to ‘Spirit in the Sky’, and after that he’s belting out the lyrics to ‘Moonage Daydream’ while Groot hums along and, Peter has to admit, rocks out. As best as someone confined to one space can in any case. It becomes a pastime for them, when no one else is willing to join Peter up on deck. Groot learns to swirl and rock around his pot in tune to the music so well, that Peter is almost jealous of his moves for ‘Cherry Bomb’.

 

It’s been seven weeks and Peter thinks he appreciated Groot's energy more back when he was in the pot.

 

Granted they all got restless when they were off planet for more then a week. The Milano was small, and there was little scenery out in space. But Groot, though mentally hadn’t changed from the way he was before he had sacrificed himself to protect the team, he had the physique and energy of a child. What little experience he had with kids came from interacting with Ravagers recruits, and the kids they recruited tended not to have average childhoods; they all where living on the streets when the Ravagers picked them up. Not that the childhood Groot was now going through was normal. First of all it was accelerated and second, he was ‘being raised by a group of former outlaws. Which… actually sounded quite similar to a childhood with the Ravagers now that he thought about it. But they weren’t teaching Groot the best techniques to pull off a heist or what world would pay the best price for whatever artifacts.

  
It occurs to them that Groot never had as much time to explore the ship as they did due to him being confined to whatever room they carried him into. Now, having sprouted legs, Groot spends all his time investigating every nook and cranny, familiarizing himself with all the ship has to offer. Which Drax doesn’t mind until Groot starts inviting himself into his room unannounced. Which Rocket shrugs off until he’s disrupted in the bathroom. That, Gamora laughs at, until she wakes up with a tangle of vines in her hair that takes nearly an hour to comb out. Peter thinks this picture worthy until she threatens snap his element gun in half. If he were to be completely honest, Peter found Groot’s antics amusing. Until he bumped into the wrong lever on the flight deck and sent the Milano off course for two hours.

  
A quick team meeting followed, and they decided that someone had to be with Groot as often as possible. Rocket takes over for the most part, having Groot sit by when he works on whatever new weapons or gadgets he’s working on. Groot helps a little bit, handing parts over when Rocket needs something out of reach. Usually they just talk. Peter, on the other hand, sets out to teach Groot all his best dance moves.

  
“You both look like idiots.” Rocket complains, walking in on them one day. “How is waving your body around like an imbecile of any use to him? How is anyone going to take him seriously?”

  
“It’s not about being serious Rocket, its about having fun.” Peter says over the music. He slows down a bit to talk, though Groot doesn’t show any signs of stopping. “Though if I remember correctly, the only reason you and Drax had time to attack Ronan was because he was enchanted by my dancing skill. See this,” He thrusts his hips a bit. “Saved your furry hide, along with a whole planet.” He smirks. “So you see it is practical. And fun. And everyone loves a man with some good dance moves.” He adds.

  
Rocket snorts, but doesn’t stop either of them. He doesn’t tell anyone, even Groot, but he’s happy to have his best friend up and moving again.

 

Eight weeks.

 

Groot is up early today.

  
It is dark in the small cabin he slept in. The only noise he hears is the hum of the ships engines, and the slow breathing of Rocket, who Groot is sure only just got to sleep two or three hours ago. Groot doesn’t join him for the late nights Rocket stays up tinkering with new ideas, but he can tell from how his friend has been waiting until the afternoon to emerge from his bunk that he isn’t sleeping well.

  
He doesn’t want to disrupt what little sleep Rocket is getting, so Groot pulls himself from the floor quietly and wanders into the hall, careful to not let the light wake up his friend. Groot looks around, most doors leading to any other rooms are closed, but one, the one that leads to Gamora’s cabin, is ajar. Odd, Gamora liked time alone more Drax did. Groot approached, moving softly as he could and peering inside. Others may not have noticed, but the cabin’s occupants do immediately.

  
“Your up early.” Gamora’s voice is inviting, conversational. Groot steps inside, and is surprised to see Drax with her. The two are sitting cross-legged on the floor. He remembers how silent it was outside, and wonders why they would be together if they weren’t talking. Groot debates asking them about it.

  
“Do you meditate Groot?” Drax asks. Though he seemed he would be a quiet type, Groot has found that Drax is fairly talkative. Not so much as Rocket and Peter, but he takes time to speak with him fairly often, a gesture Groot appreciates very much, despite the clipping incident a few weeks ago.

  
“Gamora and I enjoy it very much. It helps relax the muscles, and calms the mind. You would enjoy it I think.”

  
“I am Groot.” Yes. Groot enjoys silence just as much as he does talking. He knows the pleasures of staying still, taking time with ones thoughts, soaking in rays of sunlight (he prefers to be outside when doing this.) Groot bends down, resting on his lower legs instead of crossing them. He finds it to be more comfortable. Taking a steady breath, he allows himself to enjoy the company of his friends. They stay like that for a while, until the fumblings of a recently awoken Peter can be heard from out the hall, along with his half mumbling/half singing as he makes his way up to the flight deck. Gamora and Drax treat the noise as a signal to finish, and begin to pull themselves up. Gamora thanks him for joining them, a small smile on her face, and invites him to come back the next morning.

  
“Or any other morning. Its how we always start the day.” Groot smiles his thanks, and is sure to join the two in their habit. It takes less then a week for Peter and Rocket to notice Groot is acting more like himself then before. Gamora is praised by the both of them for giving him, and Drax, a less destructive option for downtime.

 

It’s been ten weeks.

 

Gamora is bleary eyed and miserable and just wants them to arrive on the nearest planet so she can get some fresh air. They still have a few hours until they reach Xanthu, and she intends to spend the remainder of the wait in her cabin.

  
“You’ve known him the longest,” she says to Rocket, rubbing at inflamed eyes. “How long does this… pollen thing last?”

  
“Eh, few days? ‘bought a week or so?” Rocket shrugs. “It happens every year. Usually we just touch down somewhere and he wanders off for a while.”

  
Gamora groans at the thought of being stuck on the ship for a week while Groot is pollinating, wondering why Rocket had chosen to wait until now to mention that it was a thing Groot even did.

  
“Whatever. Just let me know when we touch down. I’m going to have some downtime.”

  
Rocket nods, and exits Gamora’s bunk, sure to lock the door behind him. He felt stupid to not have anticipated Groot littering the Milano with spores during his regrowth process. It had only been a couple months before that Groot had given off pollen, and he was used to longer intervals between these kinds of occurrences.

  
Gamora isn’t the only one miserable from the pollen. Peter made a big deal of his own allergies to the particles drifting in the air, wearing his mask every time he left his room. Drax made no complaints, but Rocket had a feeling he didn’t think fondly of having to brush pollen off of whatever surface he wanted to use. As for himself, Rocket already knew from previous experience that waking up covered in the yellowish-green dust emitted from Groot's spores meant having to take extra time in grooming himself. It was gross, a silent agreement amongst the team. But Rocket himself couldn’t think to avoid Groot, or tell him to stop until they reached Xanthu. The two had spent … he didn’t even know how long it had been since they met. Two years at least. Rocket had basically spent the time bringing Groot along on his own endeavors, which Groot didn’t mind at all. And Rocket did take time to let Groot do his own thing. It was just that the time spent hunting bounties, evading authorities and escaping authorities that couldn’t be evaded overwhelmed the time that he knew Groot would spend on other things. Exploring worlds, interacting with locals, that was Groot’s thing.

  
They finally land on Xanthu, and go their separate ways. Gamora all but sprints off the Milano and Drax is gone just as fast, leaving Peter to deal with confirming that, yes, they do have a parking permit. Xanthu, Rocket learned from some brief research, was known for being up to date with the latest technologies just as much as it was known for its wildlife. He’s itching to see what available parts he could pick up on the streets to tinker with. He looked back to the ship, seeing Groot just stepping off the lift. He’s still small compared to his original height, but it won’t be much longer for him to be fully grown again.

  
Groot shifts and shakes his back, allowing a few spores to break free from the plating of his body. He can see his friend’s eyes staring out at nearby fields, before glancing in his direction. Rocket forces himself not to think about what new toys await him in mechanic shops of Xanthu, and instead walks over to Groot.

  
“You lead the way buddy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Been a few years since I last finished a fanfic. Don't know why this one ended up getting lucky, but I've been practicing with other stories so I had plenty of warm up time. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out all things considered.


End file.
